The Brightest Star in the Night Sky || 时代少年团

🖤CHAPTER 12💛

"MA GEEE"

"Everyone Ma Ge is alive", reported Yaowen. "Of course, I'm alive. Need to be alive to keep nagging you", scoffed Jiaqi.

TNT huddled around Jiaqi asking him how he felt. Meiqi moved out of the way so they could talk to him. Chengxin stared at the congee curiously, "Why does it look different from what I cooked?". "Meiqi got me another congee for dinner. Yours is...rather interesting", replied Jiaqi with a not-so-happy expression. 

Chengxin turned to Meiqi to thank her and she nodded in reply. Meiqi was thinking about how she was going to finally explain to Jiaqi but it was another missed opportunity since the members came back. Meiqi sighed, looks like she would have to wait for another time.

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The next couple of days went by rather quickly. Meiqi and Chengxin continued to practice for their performance. After their awkward first-day interaction, everything went rather smoothly for the following days. They even managed to strike up a conversation and talk a few times. Both of them thought it was getting better. That was until they needed to do the dance together...

Up until now they had been dancing separately just trying to remember their own moves. Although they were in the same practice room they hadn't done the dance together yet. "Ok, the two of you need to dance together now. Separately you guys seem fine but doing a couple dance is always hard. You need the audience to feel your chemistry, you know", said Jackson.

Jackson had been observing the two of them for the past few days and although Chegnxin and Meiqi were really great dancers on their own he didn't know how they would be dancing together. He noticed they barely talked or had any interaction aside from the fact that they were stuck in the same room practicing the dance.

"Ok from the top 5 6 7 8". Jackson stared at them for 10 seconds and went to turn off the music. "Guys, what are you doing. This is a couple dance, not a competition. Why are you two dancing like you want to beat one another. And Meiqi, why are you so far away from Chengxin? This gap is a whole 2 feet. The audience can not feel anything from this dance", Jackson sighed. He called in one of the other dance teachers to show the dance to Chengxin and Meiqi.

"Do you see how close I am to her? There's no such thing as awkwardness or being shy when you perform or else you're not going to get the results that you want", Jackson proceeded to finish the rest of the dance, he was literally an inch away from his partner. Meiqi let out a yelp, that was way too close for her comfort. Jackson turned to her "Listen, I know you're uncomfortable but this is how you break through your limits. No doubt you're an outstanding dancer but how are you ever going to dance with a partner"

They went on Jackson dance a couple more times before they tried it again. 

"From the top again. 5 6 7 8... 1 2 3 4 5 - stop stop. I can't do this anymore. You two need to figure this out before I keep watching you guys because this is going nowhere", Jackson left the room with a bang to the door.

Meiqi looked at Chengxin, her face filled with guilt. She didn't know what she should do but she knew she had to figure out how to do the dance with Chengxin. Two feet apart didn't count.

"Ok we need to figure this out. We don't have much time left either. The performance is not that far away", sighed Meiqi.

Chengxin nodded in agreement. "Let's go over the first few moves." They began practicing, Chegnxin extended his hand, this was the first time their hands had touched. Meiqi felt a bit uncomfortable but gritted her teeth through it. Every time she practiced she thought about Jackson leaving the room angrily, it made her shudder. 

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Jackson came back to check on them after two hours. "Did you guys figure it out yet", Jackson asked rather unpleasantly. "Think we got a little better", replied Chengxin in a quiet voice. "Ok let's see it". They danced to the first part of the song and it had looked a little better but still far from what Jackson expects from an on-stage performance. "It's a little better but you guys have a long long way to go", Jackson sighed.

"You know what, we're going to play a game"

Oh no, every time dance instructors said this it did not mean something good. Meiqi on the other hand, came over in curiosity, unaware of what usually happens. "Have you guys ever seen celebrities play that game where they stare into each other's eyes and first to laugh or look away loses", asked Jackson.

That was a rather strange question... Meiqi glanced at Chengxin to get some form of confirmation. Chengxin's face started turning red already, which did not help with Meiqi's assurance. Chengxin knew what game they were going to "play". He often played it with TNT but they were like brothers. He never played this game with a girl before.